[ad_1]
Azerbaijani President Aliyev has declared the capture of a strategically important city in the battle for Nagorno-Karabakh. A turning point in the conflict? Thousands of Armenians are fleeing.
By Silvia Stöber, tagesschau. of, currently. Yerevan
After five weeks of fierce fighting, the Nagorno-Karabakh war is at a turning point. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev announced the capture of the strategically important city of Shushi (Shusha in Azerbaijani) by his troops.
The city is located on the access road to the area and also close to the capital Stepanakert. From there, Azerbaijani troops could largely control Nagorno-Karabakh. The region belongs to Azerbaijan under international law and was controlled by Armenia after a war in the early 1990s.
In recent days, fighting had concentrated in the Shushi region after Azerbaijani troops advanced towards Nagorno-Karabakh from the south. However, it is still unclear whether Shushi is already fully in Azerbaijani hands. In the reports from the Armenian side there is talk of fights in the surroundings and in the city. Yerevan’s Defense Ministry said there was “intense and decisive fighting for the city of Shushi.”
The capital Stepanakert, located below, has been under rocket fire for weeks. Around 90,000 people fled the region to Armenia. The humanitarian situation was tense due to the interruption of the supply of gas, electricity and water. People stayed in basements to protect themselves from the fire.
Tens of thousands of refugees
The remaining Stepanakert residents, journalists and soldiers have been evacuated since morning. A video showed long lines of vehicles traveling on an unsafe highway in the north towards Armenia.
The Armenian government, civil society organizations and individuals provided accommodation for the refugees and provided them with food, hygiene items, medicine and clothing, also with the help of countries such as France and the Armenians of the diaspora in Europe and America. The situation in Armenia, with around three million inhabitants, is tense in the face of the corona pandemic. 640 seriously ill people await admission to hospitals. The economic situation is difficult after a lockdown in the spring.
The mood in the capital Yerevan is tense and depressed. The majority of the population still supports Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and radical opposition politicians find little support for calls for the government to resign. But there are critical voices who believe that Pashinyan is partly responsible for the escalation.
City of symbolic importance
In Azerbaijan, many people celebrated in the streets and on social media after Aliyev announced the capture of Shushi. The city is of historical, cultural and political importance for Azerbaijanis and Armenians. Both peoples lived together for a long time until pogroms against Armenians occurred in the early 20th century. During the war in the early 1990s, after a long struggle, the Armenian armed forces captured the city, propelling the war in their favor. The remaining Azerbaijanis had to flee.
For Aliyev, the announcement of Shushi’s capture at this time is of great domestic political importance. Tomorrow is “Flag Day”, a political party. The economic and social situation is also tense in Azerbaijan.
It is true that the population, including the opposition and critics of the government, is currently behind the president. But the rapid advance in Nagorno-Karabakh apparently caused heavy casualties. According to experts, practically all families are affected.
Still no decision
For military reasons, an invasion of Shushi is also important at this time, as the weather is still clear and quite warm. In the next few days it will be very cloudy, which, among other things, makes it difficult to use drones, which Azerbaijan has been using in large numbers until now.
According to military expert Richard Giragosian in Yerevan, it is still not sure whether Azerbaijani troops will manage to control Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenian troops could surround them at Shushi and cut off supply routes. Wintering will also be difficult for Armenian soldiers and residents in the remaining areas.
